Snow Leopard 28 August launch date announced (Credit: Apple)

Apple will ship its newest operating system to customers a little earlier than expected. The company has announced that Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be available this Friday, 28 August.

Apple made it clear from the beginning that Snow Leopard was not as much about adding new features as it was about refining the code in the operating system.

For instance, according to Apple, 90 per cent of the Mac OS X code has been worked on for the Snow Leopard release. This isn't just application code, it also includes working on the Finder, making it more responsive.

Apple says that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous operating system and frees up to 7GB of drive space once installed. No doubt this has to do with the refinements in the operating system, but Snow Leopard also only supports Macs with Intel-based processors, not the older PowerPC processors.

As for speed increases in Snow Leopard, Apple said that its Mail application loads messages twice as fast, Time Machine does its initial backup 80 per cent faster, and the included 64-bit version of Safari is up to 50 per cent faster.

Snow Leopard also supports Exchange Server 2007. This means that you can use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal out of the box with Exchange.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard will cost AU$39 as an upgrade for Leopard users. Snow Leopard Family Pack for a single household with a five-user licence will be available for a recommended retail price of AU$69. For Mac OS X Tiger users, the Mac Box Set, which includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife '09 and iWork '09, will cost AU$229; as a Family Pack, AU$299 .

The Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-to-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller between 8 June 2009 and the end of the program on 26 December 2009, for a product plus shipping and handling fee of AU$14.95. Users must request their Up-to-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by 26 December 2009, whichever comes first. More information on the upgrade packages is available at www.apple.com/au/macosx/uptodate.